


Valentine's Day

by flash0flight



Category: Marvel
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Valentine's Day Fluff, soviet soulmates, very late
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-03-07
Updated: 2013-03-07
Packaged: 2017-12-04 13:49:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,166
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/711436
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/flash0flight/pseuds/flash0flight
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>James wants to surprise Natalia with a Valentine's Day dinner, but he can't cook. Secretly seeking out the help of his best friend, James is pretty sure he's got it covered when Natalia figures it out anyway.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Valentine's Day

**Author's Note:**

> A very belated gift/prompt for [Jackie](http://archiveofourown.org/users/girl0nfire) for Soviets on Valentine's day.

“ She’s gonna figure it out, Buck. “

Bucky pulls a face at the blond, refusing to pay any heed to Steve’s probably true words. The two men had spent the past four hours in the kitchen at Stark Tower – which Bucky had been sure to clean thoroughly at first – while Steve did his best to teach the man how to cook. He’s not as dismal at it as they feared he might be; in fact, he’s doing better than Tony would in the kitchen. Not that there was much competition.

The genius was in and out of the kitchen every hour or so, dragged there by two bright eyed excited girls, Sarah and Dasha, both of whom were eager to check on their fathers and, more importantly, the various snacks and desserts and meals they had been trying to prepare. Once they were satisfied with Steve and Bucky’s handiwork, they would haul Tony back out of the kitchen before the poor guy could get a word in, leaving Steve and Bucky to go back to their routine of finding the right thing for Bucky to make for Natalia for Valentine’s Day.

“ She is not. “ Bucky pours himself over the cookbook again in an effort to brush off Steve’s comment. “ I’m gonna surprise her this year, Steve, I swear it. “

“ Bucky, She’s always got the drop on you—“

“ That’s not even remotely true. “

“ She’s got better instincts that you have—“

“ I trained those instincts, thank you very much. “

“ A little too well. C’mon, Bucky. She would be just as happy without all this, without the huge surprise. “

“ That’s why I need to do it, Steve. “ Bucky’s voice turns serious, his tone dropping, suddenly quiet and full of regret, and all Steve can do is bite his tongue and wait, knowing there’s more to come. “ I missed yeas of—of birthdays and would- be anniversaries and Valentine’s Days and who knows what else. I can’t just do what will make her happy. I gotta make up for everything I missed. “

And all Steve can do for a moment is watch as the emotions settle on Bucky’s face. He’s watched the man work like hell to pull some kind of life together, to right the wrongs he caused, but he’s never seen him work this hard. Not as hard as he does for Natalia. They have a home, a daughter. A family. With everything he’s ever seen Bucky fight for, Steve has never seen him fight for anything that much.

“ Well, “ Steve sighs as he pulls the book across the bench towards him, surprising Bucky with the sudden movement. “ If you’re gonna be stubborn about it, I guess we’re just gonna have to find something more fitting to make, right? “

“ What, this was fine—“ Buck tries to reach over for the book, only to be halted by that look he knows all too well. Satisfied with Bucky’s retreat, Steve begins flicking through the pages again, a grin curling the corners of his mouth.

“ Don’t argue with me, Bucky. I managed to seduce a billionaire into marrying me. “

“ I’m still convinced you drugged him or something, you know. “

“ Don’t be jealous, Barnes. “

“ Trust me, Rogers, I’m not. “

\--

The house is way too quiet when Natalia gets home. It’s been like this every day for a week. When James is left home to look after Dasha and Nat goes to SHIELD, she usually comes home to an excited daughter and a smiling, relieved partner. For days now, though, Dasha has either been in the kitchen with her father – though why, neither will say, and Nat can’t seem to find the reason otherwise – or she’s been put down for a nap, which means she’s been out with her father for the day.

Today, though, they’re no where to be found.

The thought that her family aren’t home rattles Natalia, despite logical thinking telling her that there’s likely nothing to worry about. Spending all day training and running practice ops, though, has the redhead on edge. She’s just about to fish out her phone and give James a call, when hears a key in the door.

Her gun is out of it’s holster within moments, held up towards the door, ready for whatever may come through. After all she’s seen, it’s all too easy to expect the worst.

Instead, she’s rewarded with the sight of James pushing the door open with one hand, balancing a sleeping Dasha on his hip with the other.

“ Damn, I’d hoped to beat you home—Wait, Natalia, what are you--? “ James holds his hand up in surprise, the keys tapping against the palm of his cybernetic hand, a metallic sound echoing through the hall.

“ Christ—Sorry, I just—“ Natalia lowers her gun, the anxiety leaking out of her now that she knows they’re both safe, both within arm’s reach.

“ You—let me just put Dasha in bed and I—get out of your uniform, okay? I’ll be back. “ James pauses by her, pressing a kiss to her cheek, before heading into the house. Natalia rubs her eyes for a moment before taking James’ advice, hurrying off to get out of the catsuit, setting her handgun down in their weapons cabinet before turning her back on it, trying to push herself out of the SHIELD mindset she’d been in for hours.

_You’re home, you’re fine, they’re safe, there’s no need to—_

“ Natalia? “

The voice catches her off-guard, almost sending her into a panic again until she looks up and meets James’ eyes, and the deep brown is as strong and soothing as they always have been, bringing her some kind of peace, settling her nerves. But behind the care that is always there, the same thing is still hiding as it has been all week, some kind of secret.

Secrets are what they do best, but when it’s James, it puts her on edge.

“ What—Did something happen? I thought it was just training—“ James starts as he approaches her carefully, like he would a frightened cat. Natalia takes a deep breath as she sinks down onto a couch, dimly aware that James followed her.

“ It was, it was fine. Just training. I just—you weren’t home when I got here and it—I jumped the gun a little bit. “She manages to get out, realising how ridiculous it was as the words left her mouth. Really, it had been a ridiculous overreaction, but with James behaving as strangely as he had been, Natalia can’t help but be worried.

“ Literally. “ James smiles as he reaches out for Natalia’s hand, his movements more steady when she doesn’t move away. “ Wanna tell me what’s going on in your head, Natalia? “

That snaps her from worry to frustration, her head snapping up instantly, bright green eyes meeting his brown. James really isn’t one to talk, not with his secrets and his outings that Natalia had no idea about. “ Why don’t I ask you that, dear? “ Her eyes flash dangerously as James’ concern is replaced by panic.

“ What—I have no idea what you—“ He starts stammering hopelessly. You would never be able to pick that, really. James Barnes is a highly trained operative, particularly skilled in the arts of deception. And yet he can’t seem to lie to Natalia to save his life.

“ You’re lying, James. I’ve given you a week, now you’re going to—Wait. “ Her eyes glance up to his hair for a moment, spotting something that shouldn’t be there. Powder. White powder, to be exact. But that makes absolutely no sense. “ What the hell—is that flour? “

“ Huh—no of course not! “ James tries to pull away, to move his head before Natalia could investigate, but her hand whipped out of his, gripping onto James’ chin to hold him in place. Her other hand reached up to his hair, brushing the powder out of his hair and watching as it floated off into the air, some of it dusting James’ jacket.

“ Have you been—cooking? Or baking? “ Her eyebrows raise, just a fraction, as her stress leaves her, replaced my a slight hint of amusement.

“ No! I haven’t—You know I’m hopeless in the kitchen—“ James hurries to try and distract her, but Natalia isn’t letting this go.

“ I do know, which makes me wonder why there’s flour and—Is that _icing sugar_? “ Natalia stifles a laugh at the mental image of James rushing around the kitchen, trying to figure out how to bake three things at once while cooking dinner, having everything explode and leaving him with a blackened face.

A little overdramatic, but still amusing.

“ James, what is this for, what’s the big deal? “ She asks with a slight chuckle, unable to avoid being amused about the whole situation. She’s sure there’s a good reason – as insane as his ideas are, James usually has a reason behind them.

“ It’s nothing, I just—Steve thought he might teach me how to cook, and I wasn’t doing so well—“

“ No but—why right now? There’s been that many times I’ve tried to teach—Wait… “ Natalia’s grin fades, her expression turning blank as she stares at James. “ What’s the date? “

“ What, why does that—“

“ The date, sweetheart. “

A deep sigh and a very childish frown later, James finally gives up. “ It’s the 13th of February today. “

13th of February.

Tomorrow is Valentine’s Day. A day that normally means nothing to Natalia, but with James, it changes things.

They’ve never had a real Valentine’s Day. Last year they had been on a mission in the Middle East, hunting down an arms dealer who had taken about eight steps too far across the line of what the FBI dealt with, right into the territory of what SHIELD handled. The year before that, Natalia had been send to France to hunt down a particularly frustrating rogue AIM cell with Clint. Most years since James’ return, since they were reunited, had been less than romantic, with some mission or interruption or near death experience. Natalia could even remember the year when a baby Dasha had been sick, leaving Nat at home to nurse her back to health in a panic while James covered her at SHIELD.

This year, all seems to be well. And James seems to be taking advantage of that.

“ Who taught you to cook? Last time you tried to make soup you burned it to the pot. “ Nat chuckles lightly as James runs a hand through his already upright hair, teased away from his head from the countless times he’s repeated that very action. The woman laughs and takes his hands, stilling his movements gently.

“ Steve. I’ve been over there with Dash for most of the week, that’s—where we were today. You know, before coming home to find a deadly assassin pointing a gun at us. “ James answers with a meek chuckle, his fingers tangling with Natalia’s in an effort to keep himself calm.

“ Sorry about that. You can never be too careful, you know. “ She gives one of her classic wicked smiles in return, coaxing more of a solid laugh out of the man before she presses a kiss to his cheek. “ So, this dinner—Do you need some help? “

“ No! Don’t even think about it, missy. You are _not_ lifting a finger this year. “ James hurriedly assures her as he pulls away, standing up and waving his hands at her. “ You have tomorrow off, I made sure of it, and Maria knows better than to call. I have tomorrow off too, Dasha is going with Becca to stay with Uncle Thor—“

“ Wait, is that wise? “

“ It’s Thor, he’s great with kids, and he loves the two of them to pieces. “

“ He had her ‘vanquish her first monster’ when they didn’t like the Furby last month. “

That makes James grin, which leads to a chuckle, which then leads to shaking laughter that Natalia isn’t expecting. But after a few moments, she can’t help but laugh as well as the look of pride on Dasha’s face as Thor’s helmet slipped down over her eyes, the god insisting their daughter had the blood of a warrior in her veins.

“ Look, it’s gonna be fine. It’s—Let me do this, alright? On my own. “ There’s a smile lingering on his lips from the laughter, but Natalia can see in James’ eyes that he’s serious. That he’s been planning this for a while.

“ Alright, but if you burn down my kitchen I’m going to make you pay. “ Natalia grins as she settles back on the couch.

“ Maybe I’ll burn it down so you _do_ make me pay. “ James wiggles his eyebrows at her in a ridiculous manner, one that just makes the redhead shake her head. With a small smirk and a nod, James turns to the kitchen for what Natalia assumes will be another round of how-to-cook, which she knows will end in ice cream and pancakes for dinner.

After this, though, Natalia finds she wouldn’t really mind that, not anymore.


End file.
